Why Twitter Temporarily Restricted Activist, Aisha Yesufu – TheNigerialawyer

Micro-blogging site, Twitter, ‘temporarily restricted’ the
account of activist Aisha Yesufu for a couple of hours on
Thursday.

Yesufu is a co-founder of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG)
campaign.

The account was restored after several Nigerians with large
following on Twitter reacted to the development, urging Twitter to
restore Yesufu’s account.

A former minister of education and also BBOG co-founder, Oby
Ezekwesili, tweeted in support of Yesufu.

“She does not deserve to be shut down,” Ezekwesili said.

See more tweets with reactions to the restrictions
below…

This is unjust @Twitter and every
sensible Nigerian would tell you so. @AishaYesufu is the last
person whose Voice should be shut down by Twitter. Do not
unwittingly empower those who detest Citizens’ Voice that holds a
government @NigeriaGov accountable.
That’s all Aisha does. pic.twitter.com/AkrvyxWFOc^[1][2][3][4]

— Oby Ezekwesili (@obyezeks) August
29, 2019^[5]

Dear @Twitter^[6] , I don’t know why you
placed a restriction on @AishaYesufu^[7] ‘s account but if
Twitter represents what I think it does, people like Aisha must not
have their voices restricted by systems we have come to trust to
help democratise power and activism. Lift the gate!

— JJ. Omojuwa (@Omojuwa) August
29, 2019^[8]

@AishaYesufu has been at
the forefront of fighting for the nameless, voiceless&faceless
in Nigeria. She’s been under constant attack&harassment by
trolls on twitter whose accounts have not been restricted. Why did
@Twitter temporarily
suspend her account? pic.twitter.com/3Bfgyctukp^[9][10][11]

— RIP Uncle Pius Adesanmi ?? (@MKabrik) August
29, 2019^[12]

Twitter, however, in a mail sent to Yesufu explained that it
restricted the account after its automated systems flagged a series
of tweets from Yesufu’s account as spam.

“We apologise for the mixup, and hope to see back on Twitter,”
the social media giant wrote to Yesufu.

Yesufu, a vocal critic of the Muhammadu Buhari administration,
had been posting a series of tweets criticising the government.

“That I voted for the President in 2015 is not a reason I should
not criticise the President,” she wrote. “It shouldn’t not be about
personal inclination! It’s about justice!”

A photograph of Arabic scripts was attached to each of the
tweets.

“I will continue to be a voice,” Yesufu tweeted after her
account was unlocked. “My voice is not for myself alone but for so
many others who unfortunately did not get that education that so
many of us take for granted to have a voice,” she tweeted.

See Aisha’s tweet announcing that Twitter have removed the
restriction…

Thank you everyone for your voices. I have
gotten a mail from @Twitter and I am back.
I will continue to be a voice. My voice is not for myself alone but
for so many others who unfortunately did not get that education
that so many of us take for granted to have a voice.
THANK YOU pic.twitter.com/uZ4g8TXZul^[13][14]

— Aisha Yesufu (@AishaYesufu) August
29, 2019^[15]

Apology accepted @Twitter kindly restore
back my following. Thank you pic.twitter.com/AH8yl73qVN^[16][17]

— Aisha Yesufu (@AishaYesufu) August
29, 2019^[18]

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Rice Smuggling: Nigeria Risks Loss of $400m if.. as
RIPAN Backs Border Closure

Rice Processors Association of Nigeria(RIPAN) has said Nigeria
risks the loss of over $400 million to rice smuggling if the over
one million metric tonnes of the commodity is allowed to enter the
country from Benin Republic.

National Chairman of RIPAN Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar Maifata and
his vice-chairman, Mr Paul Eluhaiwe disclosed this to journalists
Thursday in Abuja after an intensive border and port survey by the
association.

The RIPAN boss also said that at present, about half a million
metric tonnes of the commodity have already been booked in Thailand
for onward journey to Nigeria preparatory to the Christmas
season.

This, according to the chairman, would no doubt have a ripple
effect on rice processors in the country as their activities would
be hampered if this impending illegal importation is not checked
with the attendant colossal loss of over $400 million.

According to him, the closure of the Nigerian Benin Republic
border would go a long way to curb the menace of rice smuggling so
that local producers would have a breather, adding that the
association supports the current border closure by the
government.

Economic Confidential recalls early this year when RIPAN cried
out to the federal government that despite concrete and visible
interventions of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) via the Anchors
Borrowers Programme (ABP) on the rice sub-sector of the Nigerian
economy, over 70 percent of rice in Nigeria markets remain foreign
or imported.

RIPAN and other stakeholders had in a three-week survey on the
rice market across the six geopolitical zones in the country
observed that foreign rice such as Mama Gold, Royal Stallion, Rice
Master, Caprice, Falcon Rice and Basmati are sold alongside
Nigerian rice.

He said his association join other stakeholders in the rice
subsector, namely, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), in
commending the central bank of Nigeria(CBN) for the timely
intervention and banning of rice since 2015, a development that has
seen growth in local production of rice and serious saving of
foreign exchange.

He commended the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for its current
and rigorous fight against smuggling of the commodity and enjoined
the various security agencies who are mandated by the current
directive to raise the bar of the fight to check the various porous
borders.

By PRNigeria^[1]